Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

321–330 of 449 posts

Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#321

Post by nielsbot »

pllbnk wrote: post #303
uniqueuid wrote: post #24

I may be an outlier, but for me, the problem with non-mac machines is that they seem just careless. Steve jobs famously said "The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste.", and this seems true to me for almost all hardware manufacturers, and to a larger degree still for software. Why does nobody care about creaking plastic? About sticky-feeling texture? About uneven weight distribution? About the sound…

I can't stand Mac OS infantile looks and intentionally slow UI just so it would look smooth. Where do you find laptops with creaking plastic or weird textures like that? I get that there are more options to choose from in non-mac world but that doesn't mean you have to choose bad options. I go with Lenovo and never had any problems you are talking about. Macs, on the other hand, they have buggy UI and are extremely a…

Infantile? Which parts?

Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#322

Post by kaba0 »

brimble wrote: post #137
bsder wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does nobody care about the janky Bluetooth mouse that's only janky on macOS? Why does nobody care that my USB 2.0 ports on my external USB-C docks die in about 20 minutes necessitating a reboot--again, only on macOS (and only on newer macOS versions--old ones work fine). How many years did it take Apple to (sort of) fix their shittastic keyboards? How garbagey is Xcode relative to any other IDE nowadays? I can go…

> Macbooks may look pretty, but the software has been becoming increasingly garbage. I consider most of their "free" add-on software best-in-class or at least best-for-my-use case, with only a couple exceptions (including, yes, Xcode). The software is a whole lot of what keeps me on Mac hardware.

I don’t know, I am a recent convert to Mac but OSX is much much more buggy than ios (I guess due to tech dept and backwards comp?)

The underlying UNIX often seeps through the layers and it is simply an objectively worse UNIX than linux. Sure, its user space has plenty of cool features but even those are half-assed and buggy. Like, how come switching desktops is not smooth? Sure, I don’t have an M1, but a goddamn last-intel MBP, it should simply never lag at such a user-facing interaction. Sometimes I feel my T480 is better with gnome on input latency..

Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#323

Post by kaba0 »

AA-BA-94-2A-56 wrote: post #128
bsder wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does nobody care about the janky Bluetooth mouse that's only janky on macOS? Why does nobody care that my USB 2.0 ports on my external USB-C docks die in about 20 minutes necessitating a reboot--again, only on macOS (and only on newer macOS versions--old ones work fine). How many years did it take Apple to (sort of) fix their shittastic keyboards? How garbagey is Xcode relative to any other IDE nowadays? I can go…

I'm going to offer a dissenting opinion. I don't have the same issues you do with janky mice and USB 2.0 ports. I owned a previous Macbook Air with a "shittastic" keyboard and never had an issue– although I'm glad I now have the new M1 with a better keyboard. > Macbooks may look pretty, but the software has been becoming increasingly garbage. I had the unfortunate displeasure of being issued a top of the line Windows…

What device do you try to install linux on? Linux has perhaps the most expansive driver support but it doesn’t mean that every driver (or hardware!) is made equals. It is often unfair to compare the top-of-the line wifi/sound card hardware found in macs (with vertical integration) to some noname doesn’t even work properly with their own drivers hardware.

On a thinkpad with “standard” hardware, there is absolutely no driver problem of any kind.

Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#324

Post by kaba0 »

bsder wrote: post #265
brimble wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Linux is an incredible family of operating systems. Every few years I will try downloading and installing a few distros. I always run into issues with GPUs, sound cards, and WiFi. Once I get past those, I run into different sets of issues. One that sticks with me is the awful nested menus in XCFE. I was a linux-on-the-desktop user for about a decade before switching to Mac, and like you, I try Linux out again from…

> Looking back, it only ever seemed good because I was somehow blind to how much time I was losing, and I'd learned to work around or ignore a bunch of broken stuff on my systems. I feel this way about macOS. How much time have I lost because the Bluetooth was screwy? How much time have I lost because the WiFi did something strange? How much time have I lost trying to do USB development and the OS got in the way? How…

Strangely enough I can also share this experience. Mac is absolutely less reliable to me than a linux laptop.

Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#325

Post by foepys »

cpill wrote: post #113
gwn7 wrote: post #62

It is extremely funny that people are able to come to conclusions like this from just 2 data points. "Macbooks seem to be the only viable option these days", because I had bad experiences with two non-Macbook computers. To be fair; I don't think that the author came to that conclusion only from those 2 anecdotes. But still, that is the way the argument is presented. And it really looks absurd.

Like he said, he was unlucky. I got a Lenovo Carbon X1 and it worked with Ubuntu without problems (well, the finger print reader didn't work which become a security problem with work as we realised the weakest point was our laptops which had all the IP on them). Other than that it was a joy!

Using fingerprints is insecure. Your fingerprints tend to be all over the laptop you are trying to protect and can especially be found on the fingerprint reader - unless it's one where you need to slowly move your finger across the sensor.

Standardfingerprint readers are not very good at detecting fakes. A German IT magazine (c't by Heise) discovered that you can fool almost all fingerprint sensors by making the fingerprint with wood glue on a plastic strip and hold that over your own finger. It's a 15 minute job if you know what to do.

Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#326

Post by jamil7 »

varunprasad wrote: post #155
clint wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an equally useless anecdote, I've probably owned ~10 mac laptops in my life and I've never had an issue. I literally have never used a laptop sleeve or anything I just throw it in a bag and go. Literally one of the most indestructible things I've ever owned.

You're extremely lucky. Or maybe you change your laptops before Apple acknowledges the very real problems they have. So many of their laptops have had issues necessitating recalls, but because they were able to delay those recalls until 5+ years after those devices were released (even if complaints started way earlier), they get away with it. I've already had 2 Apple laptops where I took in a 4-5 year old device, and…

I think there was also a period post 2015 MBP up until the new M1s now that the laptops were pretty bad and had a lot of points of failure. The current ones seem like a return to a more robust workhorse to me. I was lucky and and had a 2013 model that lasted me up until I replaced with an M1 recently.

Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#327

Post by tluyben2 »

sedatk wrote: post #30
uniqueuid wrote: post #24

I may be an outlier, but for me, the problem with non-mac machines is that they seem just careless. Steve jobs famously said "The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste.", and this seems true to me for almost all hardware manufacturers, and to a larger degree still for software. Why does nobody care about creaking plastic? About sticky-feeling texture? About uneven weight distribution? About the sound…

> Why does nobody care about creaking plastic? About sticky-feeling texture? About uneven weight distribution? About the sound that materials make when handling them? About flickering in software? About inconsistent spacing? About janky color combinations? I think Microsoft's Surface lineup has been making good strides on that front, but they still have a long way to go.

I have only had bad experiences with the surface lineup and I really wanted to like them. I lost a lot of money to MS as they refused to repair saying it was my own fault that they broke. One came broken from the shop as in that I bought it in an Orlando MS shop, opened it up in front of the shop and it was broken. I thought I needed to charge it, so I went to the hotel; when it was still broken 48 hours later, I had to leave (fly back home) so I sent it in for warranty repair 4 days after I bought it. Got an email a few days later that ‘this damage is not covered by warranty’. The thing was broken straight out of the shop; sure my fault I did not walk back in and ask if this was a charging issue but how did they blame me for it? I had this 3 times in different warranty stages with Surface products; all 3 lost because they refused to honour the warranty. Never had any issues with Apple; they always replaced anything under warranty (even if it wasn’t covered officially).

Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#328

Post by pllbnk »

nielsbot wrote: post #321
pllbnk wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't stand Mac OS infantile looks and intentionally slow UI just so it would look smooth. Where do you find laptops with creaking plastic or weird textures like that? I get that there are more options to choose from in non-mac world but that doesn't mean you have to choose bad options. I go with Lenovo and never had any problems you are talking about. Macs, on the other hand, they have buggy UI and are extremely a…

Infantile? Which parts?

Rainbow-colored spinning loading wheel; jumping menu bar icons, trying to grab your precious attention for whatever reason; minimize button triggering "sucking" animation; app installation where you have to needlessly drag an icon onto Applications folder; pop-up windows which appear, then momentarily shrink and expand again. Sometimes it gives certain 1960's Batman TV series vibes.

Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#329

Post by kaba0 »

Delk wrote: post #187
everyone wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jewellery is a great analogy imo. Apple is a jewellery company imo. They sell expensive, shiny, conspicuous consumption items without practical use. I was shocked when I found out that macs are popular among people who actually work with computers and even make software. It will never cease to shock me. The only explanation I can think of is that this is a USA social class thing. In the USA the upper classes have App…

The combination of Unix, a polished user interface and a system that Just Works(TM) appeals to a lot of tech people. That combination at least used to be a kind of a holy grail.

I would like to see the polished user interface that doesn’t lag on desktop switch, or the just works system, because neither of it is true of a last-intel MBP I use.

Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#330

Post by antfarm »

ComradePhil wrote: post #20
cutler wrote: post #19

Stay with the "Mac way". It's far better than Windows. Take disk imaging, for example. As far as I'm aware you need special software to image a Windows system but with Mac OS X it's a feature. OS X is also BSD Unix so you have far superior cli.

Windows has a MUCH superior cli these days because of WSL.

How is it superior? Honest question.
Post reply on HN